Student raped by her partner a few weeks after starting university

Cardiff University has now launched an anonymous system for students and staff to report abuse and sexual violence (Image: Western Mail Archive)

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A student has relived the horror of being raped by her partner as Cardiff University launches an anonymous system for students and staff to report abuse and sexual violence.

The student was raped by her partner a few weeks after starting at Cardiff University several years ago.

She claimed she did not get the support she needed from student services at the time so turned to drugs to blot out the trauma and dropped grades.

Welcoming the university’s new anonymous disclosure system –which is the only one of its kind in the UK and includes a dedicated team of staff – she believes it would have prevented the spiral of despair she fell into.

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The student, who does not want to be identified, recalled how she had gone away to spend the weekend with her then partner who then raped her.

“After the incident I did not know what to do, I questioned what had happened. He was my partner and I initially questioned if what took place was rape. All I knew was it felt wrong and that I had lectures again on Monday.

“It was not consensual and I explicitly pleaded for him to stop – it was rape. That Monday I physically could not walk into my university building due to a panic attack and staggered in the park opposite. Some girls asked if they could help but I refused. Instead, once I could somewhat breathe, I called my mum, who instructed me to go to the student support centre immediately.

“I vaguely knew where the centre was due to being told in an introductory lecture. I really did not want to ask for help, it would mean divulging what had happened – I felt disgusting.

“The phenomenon of victim-blaming had been internalised in me and I wrongly blamed myself for what was someone else’s actions. Despite this I went in and asked for help looking catastrophic. They refused to see me as I had not had a GP yet but offered that if I waited four hours until drop-in someone could see me then.

“One member of staff protested and argued that ‘she clearly needs help’ – however this was not enough to break protocol. After being denied support I had the impression the university was not concerned with what happened to me.

“The months that followed were dark. I had turned to drugs to escape the flashbacks of my resulting post-traumatic stress disorder. I felt like I had a darker twin who went against my collected and smiley façade. Eventually I became a recluse to avoid my then ex-partner. Even though I wanted support I was too anxious to leave my accommodation or reach out in any way. My attendance and performance plummeted from a first to just trying to pass.”

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Since October last year designated staff on the Disclosure Response Team process reports made to it of violence and abuse on and off campus, including any disclosure of sexual violence and historic cases.

Since then 24 reports of sexual violence have been disclosed compared to fewer than five a year under previous systems which were not accurate and did not reflect the true extent, a university spokesman said.

This does not mean incidents have necessarily risen – more that there is now a better way for the university’s 30,000 students and 7,000 staff to report them, which encourages more to report, he added.

The student raped by her partner said it was a relief to disclose the case.

“The support that’s here now would have saved me from a lot of damage: support with my safety at the time, moving house and communicating with the police services regarding the rape and the stalking. This support sooner would have been life-changing. I can go confidently into my final year with the support required should I need it.

“I am relieved, not only for myself, but for all the others who will now not have to face crimes of sexual violence alone.”

Before the Disclosure Response Team was launched students could report incidents of sexual violence in various ways across the university, including to academic staff, through the university counselling and wellbeing services, and through the Students’ Union.

This meant disclosures were not recorded in a systematic way so no accurate data was available, the university said.

Ben Lewis, director of student support and wellbeing, said: “Cardiff University wants to deliver an exceptional student experience.

“We recognised we could do things better in responding to this important issue. This project is about addressing concerns and ensuring our students get the support they need when they need it. It’s acknowledging the prevalence of violence and abuse in society and how this impacts on our students.

"Creating a new approach to supporting people who are victims of violence and abuse is important to us. It's about providing people in oru community with information on what's OK and what is not. It is about providing routes to professional, trained support, either in the university or in the communuty. We want our students to be safe and help those who, sadly, experience violence or abuse. It is part of our wider approach to student support, creating a , safer campus community."